Belinda Carlisle is Dancing With the Stars!

Little did anyone in the bedroom community of Newbury Park, California know back in the 1970s when little Belinda Kurczeski was dreaming of her future that she would be a pop music star... except perhaps for Belinda herself.

The Belinda I knew from high school days was not just the cheerleader that the general public knows about... she was also a member of her high school's Forensic Speaking Team... as was I. That's how we met... our extracurricular activity - the speech tournament - found us always listed and therefore seated next to one another - as Kereakes (my last name) and Kurczeski (Belinda's last name) both begin with "K" and are equally as confusing to pronounce to those unaccustomed to the European surname.



In 1978, believe it or not, the pages of Vogue magazine featured outfits not unlike the one Belinda is wearing above - "This Year's Model" is an apt caption.

Whether you dig that fashion statement or not, Belinda was a bonafide punk rock It Girl.... seen below in the crowd at the front of the stage at a Dickies show.



And she could be found wearing a big wig and costume to sing back up for Black Randy when he performed a Cinco de Mayo show as Mexican Randy...



Belinda was also a fixture backstage at all the clubs.... such as the Whisky a Go Go



Above, she's the ruse so we could photograph the Joneses.... and below, she's hanging with her gal pals....



Its astonishing to see Belinda's transformation from suburban fan to punk rock glam girl to bonafide pop star....



Tonight, you can see Belinda enter the world of super stardom ... she's on network TV - Dancing With the Stars.... you don't get invited to appear on those shows unless the whole world knows who you are.

Looking at ABC's site and its bio and photos of Belinda... all I can say is... transformation, indeed!

Photographs of the punk rock Belinda from pre-Go Gos days are available through Punk Turns 30's gallery representation: Metropolis, of Lancaster, PA.